Stuck
by ShappireLily
Summary: My main goal is to get these two married. :  I'm really bad at summaries! Read and tell me what you think. :
1. Wills

Last Will and Testaments

…In the event that my daughter does not become Kazekage following my death, she is to be married to a leaf ninja in an attempt at political safety. The Third Hokage has already

agreed to the terms and has ensured that whoever is the current hokage will honor the agreement. …

Gaara was not happy about the section of his father's will he had just read, but there was no way to block the will. Sighing, he realized that he would need to get his sister to

Kanoha, there was no way she would go willing. Leaving his office he set things in motion. He needed to get in contact with Madame Hokage and inform her of the situation.


	2. Situations

"Our countries relations are finally going to be clear and comfortable toward each other." Tsunade said. Gaara nodded, though he was not necessarily happy about the

arrangement both sides would benefit from this agreement. Shaking hands they went their respective ways.

Shikamaru was very pleased with himself at the moment; he had finally moved his furniture into his new apartment, near the ramen shop. _Now I can get up when I want to,_

_cloud watch all day, and best of all he could clean when he felt like it!_ Stretching out on the living room couch, he decided he would nap. It was troublesome, but he had agreed

to throw a housewarming party of sorts. Ino and Choji were in charge of everything, which was the only reason he agreed. Closing his eyes, he drifted off to sleep.

She wasn't expecting much when she arrived at the gates to the Hidden Leaf Village, the village was nothing, in her opinion, compared to the Sand. On top of that only ONE ninja

from the village had ever defeated her, the lazy Nara spawn. But she had saved his tail many times and defeated enemies that had him trapped, which in her mind meant that

while he bested her at that time. Temari had been here before; she would give Gaara's message to Tsunade and be heading back home within the hour. She had not been a

happy camper about having such an easy mission. Why did she have to take something that a messenger or bird could have delivered. Sighing, Temari was knocking on the door

to the Kohage's office, when Naruto came out.

"Bye Grandma Tsunade." He was wearing one of those silly smiles of his.

Temari thought, _why today? _Naruto continued down the hall as she entered. Tsunade was on the far side of the room looking over Kanoha through the window. Since she didn't

appear to be turning around Temari spoke first.

"Lady Hokage, I bring an official message from the Kazekage of the Sand Village." Laying the note on the desk, Temari was turning toward the door when Tsunade spoke. "Thank

you Temari, but that message is not for me." Walking back to the desk, Tsunade lifted the note in Temari's direction. "It's for you." Temari was confused why Gaara would send

her here if the message was for her.

Still confused she opened and read the writing. Her eyes widened in disbelief when she reached the end. _There must be a mistake!_ , She had just read a wedding invitation for

herself and that lazy ninja Shikamaru, with the date in two weeks! That wasn't the worst part. She was not allowed to return to the Wind Country, until she had truly been

married for 2 weeks, holding the official seal of the note her amused eyes found Tsunade's calm ones, "Alright the jokes on me, I know I'm serious, but don't you

think this is too much." Tsunade's eyes now held amusement of their own. Leaning across her desk she spoke, "This isn't a joke." Opening the top drawer of her desk Tsunade

pulled out a leaf headband and handed it to Temari. "Welcome to Kanoha."


	3. Sneak

A/N: I hope that this story is developing well. If it is confusing in anyway PLEASE tell me, that's how the Will chapter was added, my mind works a million times faster than my hands. hahaha

Wedeling an invitation out of Naruto, had been a piece a cake, in truth she couldn't fault him for seeing the good in people, but it made him seem naïve. Now back in her hotel room she gathered everything she had brought with her from Suna. Checking out, she headed in the direction of Shikamaru's housewarming party. She had observed earlier a balcony almost completely to the rear of the house, which was confirmed by Naruto to lead to Shikamaru's bedroom; here Temari would begin her assault. She had to be careful that no one saw her enter the room. Temari hadn't bothered to clean up her appearance too much because she wanted to appear as if she had just arrived that day in Kanoha, after all he would think it strange that he was not assigned as her guide prior to her showing up to the party. Hoisting herself onto the balcony she could hear the party was in full swing. Picking the lock and letting herself in she quickly changed into dry clothes. Temari pushed her bag of dirty clothes under the bed in the center of the room. She had no intentions of going back to the hotel after tonight. Temari thanked her lucky desert stars that he no longer lived with his parents. This situation could have gotten a whole lot more inconvenient. She left the room the way she came in. Getting back down to the street she went around to the front door. Temari knocked, knocked and knocked. She hadn't realized that there was that much noise inside. Trying the handle she found the door had been unlocked the whole time. Fighting the urge to face palm of course the door wouldn't be locked, she entered the house, and was surprised at the sight before her.

Shikamaru had long since given up trying to save his friends' dignity. They were all over the place. Dancing and singing drunkenly, a few were passed out, Hinata and Sakura had opted to watch the spectacle from one the side of them room. He had opted to take over his couch, more as a precaution than anything. Choji and Naruto had almost immediately eaten all of the food and were just as quickly made to go out and buy more. The gathering had been pretty mellow for an hour or so, when Asuma, Kakashi, Tsunade, and Kurenai showed up. They brought with them the one thing that according to Kiba, "made the party", alcohol. It was now several hours later, and they seemed to only be winding down. He thought all of his worries were over before he heard a knock at the door.

Deciding that someone else would answer he stayed seated. The fourth round of knocks came with no response from the partygoers. He made moves to get to the door and was almost there when he tripped and landed with one hand trapped between Tsunade's breast and the other a mere inch from Kurenai's. They had been sitting on the floor in deep conversation.

Temari was still amused when at last the partygoer's left, she had walked in Tsunade yelled and slurred the word "PERVEEERT!" and slapping Shikamaru into next year. She had left the party ahead of the rest of the crowd to quickly head to the bath house. Thank goodness it had stopped raining. While the partygoer's were exiting she had slipped back into Shikamaru's window. Lying in Shikamaru's bed, she was listened as Choji and Shikamaru talked in the living room. She gathered that Choji would be sleeping over on the couch, little did Shikamaru know that his bed had already been commandeered whether he liked it or not by a very unhappy Suna woman. There was no way he was going to get out this marriage after that "stunt" he pulled, accident or not Tsunade was going to want revenge.

Shikamaru was beat all he wanted to do was take a quick bath and fall into bed. It was a super drag, but he needed to hit the bathhouse. Grabbing his towel and washcloth from the hall closet he headed out. Choji would be okay in the house by himself he knew where everything was.

Temari couldn't believe her luck, there was no way he would put her out with Choji in the house. It would be to troublesome to explain, especially since he didn't know why she was there. She closed her eye with happy thoughts and decided to sleep until Shikamaru returned.

Shikamaru couldn't believe his eyes. When he had first clicked on the light in his bedroom he thought he was seeing things. He knew it wasn't Choji, first of all the shape was way too small, plus he had just passed a sleeping Choji on the couch. Approaching the bed slowly, he extended his hand preparing to rip the cover, his covers, away from whoever was in them. The blanket gave in one tug and revealed Temari, _What the hell?_


	4. Meeting

Temari was expecting to be woken rudely, but she hadn't expected the warmth of the covers to disappear. In hindsight she knew that she should have expected it. Temari would have done the same to someone she found sleeping in her bed. Then again that person may or may not have lived till the next morning. Sitting upright she grabbed the covers off the edge of the bed and looked at the confused party in the room. She sat there waiting for him to speak but words never came, just a lot of air sucking. Temari chose to speak first. "Surprise." She said with a little wave. She watched as Shikamaru who now looked even more confused backed up and shut his door, to make sure Choji stayed asleep, and then sank against it. He couldn't understand what was going on. _Why was she in his bed?_ "There's no point in shutting the door he sleeps like a dead man. I made enough noise in the kitchen to wake the whole neighborhood, and he never once stirred." _She had been in his KITCHEN! _He could come up with no logical explanations for her to be at his home and in his bed.

"Why are you here?" He asked finally.

"He speaks! About time I thought I was going to have to teach you."

"Why are you here?" He asked again this time stronger, his words were returning.

"Seems to be stuck on parrot though," Deciding to get serious she spoke, "Tsunade sent me here, and apparently I have to marry you." Temari offered her best smile, fluffed the pillow, pulled the blankets up to her neck and went back to sleep.

Shikamaru sat with his back against the door for hours in confusion. _Tsunade sent her here. _Was the only explanation he had, but _Why?_ Then he remembered, _The boob incident, this must be Tsunade's form of a joke. All he had to do was make it through the night, but why add the part about marrying him. And why had Temari agreed to do it? _He decided to ask her in the morning, he was too tired to analyze the situation any longer. Finding another blanket and snagging one of the unused pillows off his bed, Shikamaru made a pallet on the carpet.

Temari was in a dark mood as she sat on a chair outside of Tsunade's office. Not only had she been awaked at the first sign of light, but she had practically been drug to the hokage's office. Sitting across from her Shikamaru was in an equally black mood, he hadn't sleep at all. The woman who had been in his bed kept distracting him. _What in the world had Tsunade offered her?_ He was determined to get to the bottom of this. Last night at the party Temari hadn't stayed long enough to talk to Tsunade. _They must have spoken sometime after Tsunade left._ But even he knew that wasn't a possibility. Tsuande had been one of the last to leave, and he had no doubt that by that time Temari had already shimmied her way into his bedroom.

The door opened and Shizune stuck her head out to speak to the two unhappy parties. "Tsunade will see you know." Pushing the door open completely, she let them in a told them to sit in the chairs in front of Tsunade's desk. "She'll be in shortly."

Shikamaru was sure he had heard Shizune laugh lightly as she shut the door. _What in the world was going on?_ He wondered if Temari would tell him the real reason she had been in his house and bedroom. He had no idea how to start the conversation, but they'd been sitting in the chairs for about ten minutes in dead silence. He didn't know too much about the woman next to him. The few encounters he had had where mainly on the battle field, there she was sharp and dangerous. That was the only reason he hadn't put her out last night. It would have been way too troublesome to even start with the stubborn woman. Angling his head, he watched her out the corner of his eye, she seemed calm enough. When she stood and walked to look at the window he took notice of what she was wearing.

Temari had decided to put on an outfit she would wear for a regular day in Suna a long black loose dress. Instead of her regular burgundy she had used forest green ties over her shoulders and under her chest.

Shikamaru came to the conclusion that she was not going back to her village today. _How troublesome. After he got her out of his house he would still have to escort her all over the village._ When he sighed loudly, she turned and looked at him sideways.

Smirking Temari said, "No patience.", and turned back to the window leaning her hip on the sill. Shikamaru had never _looked_ at Temari's figure in any other way than he looked at Ino or Sakura's, they just were what they were. Looking now in her current position, he decided she wasn't overly hippy and had nice shape.

Tsunade was very pleased with herself as she opened her door and spotted her current project, one standing by the window the other sitting in a chair. They both watched her with the same bothered expression as she made her way to the desk to sit down.

Smiling she made eye contact with each of them. "What can I do for you two?" Tsunade was pleased with herself. This would be a million times better than paperwork! The look Shikamaru gave her was priceless. His eyes held disbelief and his mouth hung open. She had to look at Temari to keep from laughing out loud. Temari's eyes also held disbelief but it was mixed with annoyance. Her mouth remained closed, but she had tensed he stance and had lifted herself off of the wall. Yes ,Tsunade decided, this was going to get very interesting.


	5. Just to post on 111111

"Lady Tsunade, I am not going to mince words. I'm sorry for touching your breasts, completely by accident, yesterday." He pointedly titled his head at Temari. "You and I both know that this payback was a little extreme."

Smiling Tsunade said, "This wasn't a punishment at all. I was showing you what your life will be like for the next month."

Shikamaru was very pleased, the issue was resolved. He was getting rid of the troublesome woman. He was halfway out the door when he actually understood what had been said… _Wait! _

"What do you mean for the next month?" His eyes narrowing.

PREVIEW SNIP-It also known as I wanted to post _something_ on 11.11.11


	6. Chapter 5 continued

Thanks to tsukiryu16 this chapter was written. Thanks for being so nice, but also reviewing. I needed something else to focus on for a while.

Tsunade couldn't help herself she was enjoying this immensely. She had just filled him in on the situation. Shikamaru's eyes had nearly popped out of his head when he read

thewedding invitation, he had demanded that Tsunade reconsider immediately.

Shikamaru had been alternating between standing, sitting, and pacing. Currently he was sitting and as calm as possible in this situation, was asking questions trying to find

anyexcuse to get out of what was most definitely hell.

"Lady Hokage you can't be serious, she's not even from our village! How in the world are you going to get people to believe that we are truly getting married?"

"I assure you people will believe it. First, I was not aware of your affections until the recent year and," Looking at Temari she spoke. "you came to me one day and confessed

ofyour secret romance with one of the ninjas under my command."

Temari couldn't believe the levels Tsunade had gone through to make sure they were successfully hitched to each other. She had enjoyed Shikamaru getting tortured earlier in

the conversation, but was none to pleased that she was being shown off in the story as the weak of the two in love. If she was going to be in this, she'd be damned If

everyone would think she was one those swooning woman. Her mouth fell open at Tsunade's next words.

"At first you wouldn't tell me, but I was clever and decided to replace Shikamaru as your guard and give you Naruto for one of you trips to Kanoha."

Temari remembered that day. She had been followed her ENTIRE trip by that annoying loud mouth ninja. She had been ready to stab her eyes out with her own kunai; he had

asked so many questions, ninja "info". Temari had decided it was better for both of their safety if she had just given him the cold shoulder and had not spoken to him often.

Shehad completed her business quickly, not taking her usual two or three day tour and room. At the time, Shikamaru had been more than happy to give his troublesome

duties over to Naruto for a day. Now, he was regretting it.

"You can't seriously be planning to use that against me." Temari said in disbelief. "Any sane ninja would have done the same."

"In a regular situation, but it fits seamlessly with my flawless love story." Completely enjoying herself, Tsunade continued her cover story.

"The true reason you left was because Shikamaru was not your guard and since you couldn't see him you finished your business quickly. This I'm sure will get taken out of

context even more once Naruto gets wind of this. As we speak the other ninjas are being briefed on the situation."

She rose out of her chair and headed to the door, she stopped near Temari. "I'll be taking your Sand Village headband. Your brother requested it be returned at once."

Temari would not crumble she was a rock in the desert and nothing would crack her. With forced numb hands she removed her home symbol from her person. She had never

realized how much this little piece of fabric and metal had meant to her before this moment. Temari had always saw the band as a duty, something that would always be

there.

Breathing slowly she placed it in Tsunade's hand.

"Temari you are now a Leaf Village citizen. You can wear the Leaf band from here on out. In the coming days we will be welcoming you officially. You may wait outside until

Shikamaru is released. We have to keep up appearances. It won't do for you to go solo."

After Temari had left and shut the door firmly behind her Tsunade made eye contact with Shikamaru, she gave him a pointed look. "You are to be on your best behavior. The

Leaf's Lazy ninja is going to have more responsibilities than just cloud watching. You will make an effort to make her feel at home here. She has basically been kicked out of

her village and whether she says it or not she will need an ally. Do you understand what I'm saying? You already know she is stubborn and mean as a snake when cornered,

you must approach this carefully. Not to mention your mother has been notified of your "secret" romance." Reaching into her pocket she pulled out a small bundle of cash and

handed it to Shikamaru. "It's just enough to get enough food for the month, Temari clothes and other things she wants to add to your home. Use it wisely. You are

dismissed."

Temari had been sitting outside of Tsunade's office for 15 minutes when the door opened and Tsunade walked off down the hall. She had waited another 5 for Shikamaru to

come out, before she decided she was going to find food. This morning's conversation had drained her and she was starving. Besides Tsunade had said it wouldn't do for her

to go out by herself, but there was no law against it. Deciding she would go find food, she left a note that simply stated her purpose.

Long after Tsunade had left Shikamaru was still sitting in the chair. He had been trying to strategize on what to do about the woman outside the door. So far he had decided

that he would do as Tsunade had instructed with the money. But even that was a problem. Should he give her the money directly or hold on to it and pay for everything

himself?

Wasn't that other men did as a way to "provide" for their families? But what if she was a woman who didn't want a man to tell her what to do or support her. _I just won't tell_

her I have it. He knew that his bed was a goner, he and couch where going to become fast friends. _I will have to approach this as a dating relationship, learn as much as I can_

_and_ _make it to the end_. His mind made up he went out the door. And of course she wasn't where Tsunade had asked her to stay. There was a note in one of the seats, reading

it he found that it wasn't very helpful.

_Shikamaru-_

_Went to get something to eat._

_- Temari_

Sitting down Shikamaru decided this was going to be a more than troublesome month.


	7. Chapter 6

After almost an eternity of staring at the walls outside the Hokage's office, Shikamaru was decidedly annoyed and needed to go find this woman. _ Ugh, for the next TWO weeks this was the woman he trapped with. _"His" woman, so to speak. _Yeah right he wanted her in the way he wanted to sleep in a tank full of hungry piranha. _Hands in pocket he began his depressing search.

Temari couldn't believe how complex this building was. She would have to familiarize herself with this village more if she was to be here permanently, no need in getting lost continually. Temari had been walking for almost two hours. _Damn it all!_ She had been following the smell of food for what seemed like forever. She had hoped it would lead to the kitchens or at least outdoors. Out the corner of her eye she saw a blob of orange. She had never wanted to see this ninja more. _Oh thank goodness, if anyone can find food it's Naruto!_ Hurrying after him she called his name.

"Naruto!" Temari said quickly walking in his direction. "NARUTO!" The sun haired ninja turned around, and smiled.

"Temari! I have been looking all over for you." He was just a few feet away now and Temari was getting food if she had to drag his butt around town.

"Naruto!" She said grabbing his shirt front. "I need food! Can you get me out of here?"

"It'll cost you." Naruto said his smile now from ear to ear.

Temari's eyes narrowed a slight bit. _If this little… _He cut off her thought saying. "If I escort you to food you will have to buy me a bowl of my favorite ramen."

That didn't sound too bad, especially when it could have been much worse. Her goal _was_ to get food herself. What harm could it do? All she had to do was agree to feed the She stuck out her hand in agreement, shaking Naruto's hand firmly. She began to following him through hallways, her excitement growing at escaping this place and Shikamaru, while she figured out her situation and how to proceed with her limited options. She could see the door to her freedom, the blue sky visible through a small square window in the door.

Once outdoors Temari enjoyed the sun on her skin, she continued to follow Naruto. She knew her way around in town, but a deal was a deal, Temari owed Naruto a bowl of ramen. Oh, she could taste the _kenchin-jiru_. That delicious creamy _sato-imo_, sweet carrots and mushrooms, she would enjoy every bite.

Shikamaru was amused as he followed Naruto and Temari through the city streets. Thank goodness he had found Naruto before Temari did or he would have spent the expanse of his lifetime looking for her in that building. Since he was too lazy to walk through the building himself he decided to enlist help. Finding Naruto had been easy. The challenging part was to get him to agree to help. Shikamaru had asked Naruto to help him find Temari and make his presence known to her. Shikamaru knew she was a smart woman and would connect Naruto to food and a way out of the building. That is if she happened was desperate enough to ask Naruto for help. Naruto wasn't hard to convince, Shikamaru gave Naruto enough money to buy two days' worth of ramen, which in Naruto's case a whole lot of noodles and not in the least cheap.

He watched as Temari and Naruto went inside and sat at a booth and began to order, then went to sit at the table beside Temari. The look on her face was priceless. Temari's jaw hit the table when Shikamaru not only sat down next to her, but put his arm around her shoulder. She knew what he was doing, Shikamaru knew Temari wouldn't break his hand or face while Naruto was sitting at the table. Both of them were glad that Naruto hadn't had any food in his mouth. He most definitely would have spit noodles it all over the two of them.

"HEY, WHAT'S GOING ON HERE!" Naruto yelled. He was beyond astonished. _When the HELL had this happened? _Looking back and forth between the two, all Naruto could think was this was weirdest match ever!

"THIS MAKES NO SENSE!" Naruto continued. Ayame placed their food on the table and gave Naruto a strange look before she headed back to the other orders on the counter.

Rolling her Temari said, "Will you stop yelling? It's not that serious." ,completely annoyed with the whole situation.

She had planned a nice relaxing meal, instead she was stuck answering, what she was sure would be, a million questions. Shooting a look to Shikamaru that said, _this is your problem, not mine._ Temari began her meal.

"Naruto you will be seeing a whole lot more of_ us _being together." Shikamaru couldn't believe his luck. All he had to do was tell Naruto about the engagement and his work was done, the story would be told to Sakura and it would take off from there. "As a matter of fact, Naruto, Temari and I are engaged."

Temari had to cover her mouth to keep from spitting out food. She could have strangled the very life out Shikamaru's body. Naruto's eyes bulged so big Shikamaru thought they might burst. It took Naruto a minute to regain his senses. "Engaged? How is that possible?"

Shikamaru had never been as appreciative of his Hokage as he was now. "Really, you didn't see the hints?", His tone incredulous. "How could we not be? Every time Temari would come for business, who escorted her around the village?"

"You did, but I would have thought you would call any relationship too troublesome. I always thought something was going on. Sakura said there wasn't, but what does she know about people and their love." Smiling that _I'm the best smile_, Naruto went back to stuffing his face.

"Well Temari," _chew chomp chomp_." that explains why you didn't like me," Slurp chew chew, "as your guide and left town early a few missions back." Shikamaru had to fight back the urge to facepalm.

Temari ate her soup with very little enjoyment. She was highly ticked off at the moment. _Where did Shikamaru get off making decisions about telling people they were engaged? Especially since she had a different understanding of the Lady Hokage's words, she thought of it as something they had to work together on to ensure both of their freedom's after the allotted time. She did not want to make a huge scene about it. _Now she was going to be one of those people who got married for a quick minute and divorced.Temari was not one of those girl's that planned their weddings from their diapers. As a matter of fact she wasn't sure she had ever wanted to get married in the first place. She would make do with this situation until she could find a solution.

When she and Naruto finished eating, Shikamaru paid the tab and the small group headed outside and separated with Naruto running in one direction Shikamaru and Temari walking in the other. Before they had taken ten steps they heard Naruto yell.

"Hey Shikamaru I didn't know you were into older women!" Waving he disappeared onto a cloud of smoke around the corner.


	8. Chapter 7

A/N: I planned to upload sooner, but my grandfather is about to pass, so I have been spending a MASSIVE amount of time with him. I write depending on if I can clear my head long enough to focus. So please bear with me. Thank you.

Due to the murderous look Temari sent him, Shikamaru couldn't even smile, at least not on the outside. Temari's eye twitched most of the way back to Shikamaru's apartment.

_How dare that little runt yell something like that? Who did he think he was? What was THREE years?_ She would repay him for his foolish made her feel better to think of

Naruto's demise. Shikamaru walked next to Temari, he had wisely stayed quite for the short trip.

Going their separate ways she to the bedroom and him to the couch, they each prepared for bed and the next day.

Now it was morning and they were seated on the couch next to each other. Neither of them wanted to be near the other. Shikamaru had told Temari of his pre-made plans to

watch the clouds that day. _From what I hear it's more like every day._ She thought Temari being a woman of action, was prepared to plan out the next two weeks of their lives.

Shikamaru thought this was going to be very troublesome and decided to let Temari plan out most of the details. Seeing as this wasn't a permanent situation he wasn't really

interested. As far as he was concerned in two weeks' time he would have his house back to himself and there would be to troublesome woman to worry about it. Temari decided

to change tactics. She would make him regret not being more focused on his current enemy.

"Shikamaru you're right. Why waste so much energy on something that not permanent? You go on ahead and look at the clouds and I'll stay here in the house." She said.

Shikamaru couldn't believe her words she was finally leaving him alone. Quickly he left the house in the direction of one his favorite cloud watching spots. Reaching his

destination he began to stare at the clouds as they drifted by like boats on the sea. No matter what ailed him, looking at the clouds had always calmed him. They never spoke

they never nagged and never once gave him orders. They were always there, his silent companions. Looking at these clouds he could strategize any number of battles, listen to

the sound of the earth and clear his mind. He turned his mind to his main problem: Temari.

She was going to be in his house, in his kitchen. In his country, there would be no way to escape her. He had thought of taking more missions, but Shikamaru had decided that

was more work than necessary. There had to be a way out of this. After all, how could he only be married for two weeks and then decide to settle if you divorce? People would

become suspicious, and he would have to answer many questions regarding the matter. Shikamaru figured that he would have to take the good with that there was no way in

hell he was staying married to this woman! All he had to do now was strategize. This would be a new environment for a battle, but he was sure he could handle almost anything.

After all, this was his town he would have the home-court advantage. Deciding to cut his cloud watching short, Shikamaru headed back towards his apartment.

Temari had been busy while Shikamaru was gone. She had to the house into girl world, not because she was particularly fond of the color yellow, but she needed to unbalance

Shikamaru. Temari wanted to even the field, he was at home here. She planned to bring the reality of the situation home to roost. As with any other battle, mental or physical,

Temari had to create a safe zone. Unlike brothers she preferred not to fight, that was the reason she became the two villages peace liaison. She had turned this house upside

down. Temari had added pink and yellow all throughout the house, the kitchen mats were yellow, the towels, and the bed sheets were pink. The welcome mat outside the door

was yellow. She had made a few more tweaks throughout the house. Her plan was to make Shikamaru participate in this process. Temari was not going to suffer through this

alone. The longer it took him to get on board, the more she would do. The little bit of color she had added to his house would appear like a tiny speck in comparison what she

could do. He would probably regret having given her the card, but that was too bad he was never getting it back.

A knock at the door had stopped her decoration plans pre-maturely. She had no idea who it could be, but this was now her residence, Temari was going to answer _her_ door.

Upon opening it she wasn't sure if it was a gift or curse. Standing on the other side of the door Sakura, Ino, Ten Ten, Choji, Neji. They were all shocked to see Temari answer

Shikamaru's door. Ino and Sakura had asked her why she was there. She had told them the truth that she was engaged to Shikamaru and lived here in Kanoha now. The girls

squealed with excitement, the two males looking _very_ unexcited. With the other girls rushing Temari out of the house, she had no time to write a note, she barely had time to

grab her money pouch.

When her lunch with them finished, she felt slightly guilty. Shikamaru was going to be blindsided by whatever the others say to him. Temari had spent most of her time keeping

them off the subject of she and Shikamaru. Of course, she couldn't always steer the conversation away and had to make up small lies, nothing, she hoped he couldn't explain

away easily. She had never been happier that he was lazy. The rest of her time out Temari familiarized herself with the village. _I better get food for the house, there's nothing in_

_it!_

Shikamaru thought nothing of the bright yellow WELCOME mat. That was until he caught sight of one of the curtains through a small window. It wasn't just any yellow. It was the

kind so bright you could see from a mile away. It was like she had found the sun and placed it at the door! He wasn't sure if he wanted to open the door, but it was here or his

parents' house. _Yeah right! _ He told himself. The second option was not an option at all. He would have to face his parents soon enough and right now was not that time. He got

the willies just thinking about it!

Pushing the door open he placed one foot inside and cautiously walked into the living room. _It looks safe, _he thought. He had expected to see that a rainbow vomit all over his

house, but it appeared that there were no other major changes. He checked out the kitchen and had to back out and re-enter, when he saw the yellow floor mats. Something

strange was occurring today. He just couldn't put his finger on it sitting on the now pink pillowed couch, Shikamaru thought about the conversation he had with Ino today. She

had caught up with him on his walk back home. Well more like her fist had.

_He caught the mean left hook squarely in the shoulder. What had he done now? Was all he could think. _

"_Shikamaru Nara, you lazy excuse for a friend! How could you?" She had yelled._

_He was still confused, so he could only stare at his suddenly crazed friend with concern._

"_Don't you look at me like that!" Holding her hands over her heart, Ino said. "How could you not tell Choji and I that you were dating that Sand-nin?"_

Damn! Naruto worked fast! He thought he at least one day before he had to face anyone. If Ino was here his mother would know soon enough. It was moments like this that

made Shikamaru want to be up there with the clouds.

_Sighing, he rubbed the back of his neck. "The information was too troublesome to share, just as it is now. Whatever Naruto told you may be a bit exaggerated. You know how he - ._

"_NARUTO!" Ino screamed her eyes huge. "He knew! Seriously?"_

"_He tells Naruto. NARUTO! Of all people!" Shikamaru didn't say anything because she was sputtering at herself. "Tell his teammates, no we are waayyy to troublesome tell. At_

_least, Temari had the decency to tell us about your engagement."_

"_She told you?" Shikamaru asked. Ino completely ignored him and continued talking._

"_How could you not plan anything special for an engagement? Who throws a housewarming party that was disguising your engagement party? Especially, when you two were the_

_only people that knew about it?" Throwing her hands up, she death glared him, her cerulean eyes narrowed. "No wonder she looked pissed for the short time she was at the_

_party." Gasping she had a look on her face like she had just saw a three-winged butterfly. "You sir have a lot of work to do if you want to keep this one on the hook."_

"_What do you mean keep this one? I can get another girl."_

_She shot him a doubtful look, patting him on the back she tried to sympathize. "In most situations positivity is necessary. In this instance, a large dose of REALITY needs to be_

_held on to… tightly. I will help you to make sure she makes it to that altar."_

Ino had made the executive decision to sustain the ShikaTema couple, her nickname for them. Now as he sat here waiting for Temari to return he tried to remain calm. But he

was stressed, and as a ninja who avoided all non-battle related stress, he was peeved. _Who did she think she was to tell HIS friends whatever she felt like telling them? And_

_without consulting him? _He had to make her understand that in order for this to work she had to communicate.

A/N: Thank you for reading. Please let me know what you think of this, my emotions are everywhere outside this story and I want to make it as un-"roller-coaster" as possible.

Thanks.


	9. Author Note

Hi guys, I was writing this to let you know that my granddad passed away yesterday and I will be focusing on helping my family make arrangements. I will be continuing the story, but it will be at least a week before I have time to really sit down and write _anything._ Thank you for your patience and wish you happy holidays. ~ Loni


	10. My Return :

Hi guys. Just wanted to let you know that I will be getting back on the writing train, life has finally reached a sort of normalcy. Thank you for your patience during this time. New Chapter coming soon!


	11. Chapter 8

Shizune sank into the chair near Tsunade's desk. She would rather it have been her own bed, but she had finally gotten Tsunade to do some paperwork in the last few hours and

she be damned if she would lose this opportunity. Still, the day had been long and her feet were way beyond swollen. Taking a deep breath, she struck up a conversation with

Tsunade.

"Lady Hokage?"

Tsunade glanced up to acknowledge her question.

"About Shikamaru and Temari, how is them being married for two weeks going to bring long-term peace between the Sand and Leaf Villages?" Shizune knew about the will and

plot behind the wedding, but she couldn't understand the short time provision. Placing her pen to the side, thankful for the break, Tsunade looked at Shizune and asked. "Isn't it

obvious?"

Confused Shizune asked, "No, what do you mean?"

"Once those two are married, they're stuck with each other. The Kazekage and I decided it was in the interest of both villages to keep that part of the agreement from them."

Leaning back in her chair she surveyed the many papers on her desk and decided it could wait till morning. Rising she signaled Shizune to the door and they left the building.

The past couple of days had gone by relatively uneventful, mostly because Shikamaru and Temari did not see each other. Shikamaru was off on a small mission outside the

village, and Temari had spent her free days trying to understand the environment in which she was moving. She wanted to know how life flowed here, what was considered a

normal day, and who went where and did what in the village. Today she had hiked to the top of the past Hokage's cliff faces, there was nothing like this in the sand, but then

again there weren't any mountains. She really couldn't compare the two. The air here, she found was much more humid, when applying her usual balm, her skin had become

thick and clammy. Temari had also evaluated Shikamaru and decided that she would put in more effort to try to understand him. She would act as a guest should in the home of

another. Temari would have to give him his bed back, remove all those silly decorations, and lastly be more cordial, after all neither of them _chose _to be in this situation. He was

more than likely just as shocked as she was. With those decisions she had re-evaluated the times she'd had with Shikamaru. All the times he had escorted her around the village,

the Chunin Exams, and how they had collaborated when necessary. As far as she was concerned this marriage could work, after all they were not enemies and she was a firm

believer that marriages weren't based solely off of love, although it was a beneficial bonding agent. In her eyes, it was a two pieces, the first being partnership, an agreement to

always be there, to support. The second is to challenge to keep the other moving forward, giving them new angles and arguments. Love was extra motivation, the reason to

support and push. Temari was sure that she and Shikamaru could work out such a situation. Around sunset, Temari had seen enough of the village today and was ready to turn

in. By the time Temari got back to the apartment she was drained, but relaxed. She restored his house to its original blandness and she had decided to go to the hot springs. Her

body had developed a new type of ache, the kind you get in the thigh and calf. When the water had pulled away the last pieces of tension she had decided to return to the

apartment. Unlocking the door and pushing it open Temari was surprised to find Shikamaru sleeping on the couch.

Shikamaru was awake. To be honest he hadn't been sleeping, just too lazy to lift his lids. He had expected more of Temari's surprises when he had returned to town, but was

shocked that his house had been set back in order. He could almost forget that she was in his house, with the exception of the giant glaring fan in the corner. When she had let

herself in and poked him, he hadn't wanted to waste the energy opening his eyes or moving. He had chosen to stay "asleep", and wait until she was safely in the bedroom.

Turning on the light and walking over to the couch Temari poked Shikamaru. When he didn't respond, Temari spoke, "Shikamaru!" Every muscle in his body protested moving,

but he rose up to a sitting position. With half open lids, he looked at the troublesome woman. Having gotten his partial attention she began

"I apologize for waking you, but what I have to say cannot wait until tomorrow." When he made no move to speak she continued. "I realize that situation is as shocking to you as

it is to me, I feel that we must work together in this if we are to succeed. You and I are friends," At Shikamaru's raised eyebrow, she added, "of sorts. I have come to the

conclusion that our relationship should not change because we are to be married. With that being said I will act accordingly, starting with you getting your room and home back."

With a sigh Temari said, "I don't know what came over me, it's not like you would be excited to be married to me."

"Temari…" Shikamaru started and stopped. She looked at him with interest, her head slightly inclined . What was he supposed to say, that he had been to some extent happy

that she was his chosen bride, he had always wanted to get to know her more. There was no way in hell he was saying that. Temari would think he was either a) creepy or b)

some sap. Liking neither options he said, "we'll switch rooms tomorrow I'm already comfortable here." Resuming his former position he shut his eyes. When she had turned off

the light and went into the bedroom, Shikamaru opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling. He had never thought of Temari romantically, or in any case more than an

acquaintance. Why were these thoughts making themselves known now all of a sudden? But he knew the answer. Because she had constantly seemed off limits and out of his

reach. Now that there was a true chance to make something out of their relationship, his mindset was changing. Her little speech tonight had not helped to lessen those surfacing

feelings. Sighing, he had to acknowledge Ino's comment earlier in the week about him hanging on to this one. Truthfully none of the other girls in his village had ever caught his

eye. He also had to accept the fact that he was not opposed to courting Temari. Since denial took too much energy, he would have to openly court her. Shikamaru's advantage

was that she would think he was putting on a show for Tsunade. With that weight off his mind he got back to the business of sleeping.


End file.
